Chapter 14 - THE ENEMY RETURNS
The answer came sooner than I expected.
Two days later, I received a letter. Handwritten. Postmarked from the very city where Evelyn was being held.
No signature. No return address.
Only one sentence:
THE JOURNAL IS NOT YOURS. IT WAS NEVER FOR NOAH. IT WAS MINE. AND I WILL HAVE IT.
My blood turned to ice.
Someone else knew. Someone else had been waiting. Someone who had watched Damian die. Who had watched Elias and Clara die. Who had watched everything unfold.
And they were coming.
I called the researcher immediately.
“Who else knows about the journal?” I demanded.
“Only me,” he said. “And… the lawyer who held it. But he vanished yesterday. His office was ransacked. The police say it looks like a professional hit.”
My hands began to shake.
“Is the journal safe?”
“It’s gone,” he said quietly. “They took it. But… they missed one thing. A single page. Taped to the back of the drawer. I have it here.”
“Read it to me,” I said.
There was a pause. Then he spoke.
“It’s a list. Names. Dates. And at the bottom… written in heavy ink… a warning.”
He took a breath.
“EVELYN IS NOT THE ONLY ONE. THERE IS A BROTHER.”
I gripped the edge of the desk.
“A brother?”
“Damian’s brother,” the researcher said. “His name was Julian. He vanished the same day Damian died. Everyone assumed he ran away. But… Damian wrote here… Julian found out the truth. He threatened Evelyn. And then… Evelyn told Damian she would kill Julian too if he told anyone.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Julian is alive,” I whispered.
“That’s what the page implies,” the researcher said. “Damian wrote: ‘She thinks he is dead. But I sent him away. I gave him money. A new name. A new life. If I die… Julian will come. And he will destroy everything.’”
I sat back slowly.
Evelyn had buried one secret. Damian had hidden another.
A brother. Noah’s uncle.
And he was coming.
That night, I watched Noah play on the beach. He ran after seagulls, laughing, his hair blowing in the wind.
I thought about Julian.
Was he coming to protect his nephew? Or to claim what he believed was his?
Had he sent the letter? Had he killed the lawyer? Had he taken the journal?
And if so… why wait until now?
My phone buzzed. A text message. Unknown number.
I knew that number.
The one that had messaged me all those months ago. Before Arthur died. Before everything fell apart.
The message read:
HE IS HERE. WATCH THE BEACH. WATCH NOAH.
I looked up.
A man stood at the far end of the shoreline. Tall. Dark hair. A scar above his left eyebrow.
He stood perfectly still. Watching us.
Our eyes met.
He did not smile. He did not wave.
May you like
He simply nodded. Once.
And then he turned and walked away into the mist.
